


Love Is For Children

by Huntress79



Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen, Pining, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 11:32:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9121606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/pseuds/Huntress79
Summary: She’s a master thief and fence, could steal everything she desires whenever she wants. But the one thing her heart yearns for the most is always out of her reach, no matter how hard she tries.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cookielaura](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=cookielaura).



> Written for [cookielaura](http://cookielaura.livejournal.com/) at the [WCWomenFest](http://wc-women-fest.livejournal.com/) 2016 Holiday Exchange. Follows my headcanon that Alex is in love with Neal (probably all the time), but he is oblivious about it. Set in Season 2, including spoilers for “Forging Bonds”, “Copycat Caffrey” and “Under The Radar”. First time writing Alex, so I hope I get her right. Title is a quote from "The Avengers", said by Natasha Romanov. Happy Holidays and Enjoy!

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Neal Caffrey was a walking, talking trouble magnet, trouble with a capital T.

Not that this came as a surprise to Alex Hunter. Ever since Mozzie introduced her to his young associate all those years ago, she knew deep down that he was, underneath all this boyish charm and devastatingly good looks, a predator, and exactly that kind of men Sister Renata and all the others at the all-girls boarding school warned her over and over again.

And still, after just one look into his sky blue eyes, Alex knew that she was hooked on him.

While preparing their little spiel on Adler, Alex got to taste the semi-forbidden fruit that Neal, or better Nick, was. Mozzie had told her that Neal was stupid enough (at least for conman on the rise) to fall in love with none else than Adler’s personal assistant, a girl named Kate Moreau.

Sure, Kate was beautiful, even to Alex, and while she preferred hard abs and a certain part of the male anatomy, she surely wouldn’t have mind adding Kate to the mix that was her sex life. But something about the other woman didn’t sit right with Alex. She couldn’t pinpoint what it was, and so she chalked it up to the surge of jealousy she felt whenever Neal mentioned Kate.

Their little con on Adler went off without a hitch, everybody got what they want (including one last romp in the sheets with Neal for her), and they all went their separate ways afterwards. At that point, Alex made a mental note to steer clear of Neal’s path. The handsome young man was not only poison to her heart, coated in sugar and honey, he also had the dangerous tendency to associate with people who didn’t mind to resort to violence to meet their goals. Her recent run-in with Adler was the latest proof, but she also knew that Mozzie, thanks to an entire childhood spent in orphanages, had a dark, more violent side to him that Neal apparently was oblivious of.

But like a moth was drawn to a flame, Alex found herself back into Neal’s circles again and again, even if that meant having to work with Kate, who joined their semi-legal, criminal lifestyle after the big Adler blowout. And for a while, it all went fine, much to Alex’ surprise. Well, until Copenhagen. With one man short (Neal refused to elaborate why Kate wasn’t tagging along), their coup at Amalienborg Castle went down the drain in the most spectacular way, landing Alex with a broken leg in a French hospital – and putting a rather violent stop to her Neal-shaped crush.

And yet, here she was, standing in the breakroom area of FBI’s White Collar division of all places, trying to fix herself a cup of tea with shaking hands while watching Neal in what looked like his new habitat – giving a statement of the day’s events, hatching a plan with Burke and the rest of the team, and most interesting to Alex, talking to a young redhead. As it turned out, the other woman went by the name of Sara Ellis, and she was, of course, Neal’s current girlfriend.

Once again, Alex got a taste of Neal, if only for some fleeting moments at the wharf, when they shared a kiss, but still, that was enough to reignite her fire for the man full force. But once again, another woman had a claim on Neal’s heart, and while Alex was convinced that the man with the many talents didn’t have one for a serious longtime relationship, she also knew that, once again, she had to step back, this time for the insurance detective that was quite the opposite of Kate, character-wise.

Alex left New York rather quick after giving her statement to Burke, and for the first time in a long time, it didn’t really hurt to leave whether the city nor Neal behind. Sure, she and Neal were bound to cross paths again in the future, but now Alex was convinced that she made the right call when she gave him the key to the music box. To her, it was more than that, she also gave up her hope that, one fine day, Neal would realize her true feelings for him. No, that train had left the station long ago, and it was high on time to let Neal go, for good.

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**The End**

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